Papa S. Nguer
Keynote Speaker · Presales Leader · Author
25 years turning complex data platforms into signed enterprise deals. $93M+ in influenced revenue, 300+ proving engagements, and a decade of stages from DAFS to AWS re:Invent.
Taking keynote and advisory bookings for late 2026 and 2027
Talks that give a room something to do on Monday.
I speak from the field, not from a framework deck. Every talk is built on deals I personally worked, with the numbers attached and the parts that went wrong left in.
Winning the Moments That Matter
The better product loses deals every day. This talk maps the handful of moments where technical credibility, executive language, and deal strategy collide, and what to actually say in each one.
For: sales kickoffs, presales summits, revenue org all-hands
AI-Ready Is a Data Problem, Not an AI Problem
Why GenAI programs stall in regulated enterprises, and the governance, quality, and lineage work that has to be true before a model is worth trusting. Drawn from Tier 1 bank and insurer deployments.
For: data and AI conferences, CDO forums, FSI events
The Accountability Gap
The distance between "everyone agrees this matters" and "someone owns making it happen." Why transformation programs die in that gap, and the ownership mechanics that close it. Companion to the forthcoming book.
For: executive offsites, transformation summits, board sessions
Selling Without Slides
A working session, not a lecture. Teams bring a live demo and a real deal. We tear both down against the SO WHAT? test and rebuild them around the outcome the buyer is actually funding.
For: SE teams, presales orgs, technical account teams
Where I have been on the program.
- 2026DAFS: Data Analytics & AI for Financial Services SummitFeatured panelist, returning speaker
- 2025CDAO CanadaInvited moderator, Data Democratization, 60+ analytics leaders
- 2025DAFS SummitFeatured panelist with executives from RBCx and Coast Capital
- 2024Cloud Modernization Summit, national road-showFeatured speaker across Vancouver, Calgary, Montréal, Toronto
- 2024Deloitte × Informatica Data & AI Tour, TorontoClosing keynote, 200+ executives from Big 5 banks and Tier-1 retailers
- 2024Big Data & Analytics Montréal SummitPanelist, data governance, 200+ delegates
- 2024Informatica World Tour North AmericaPanelist, Deloitte case study on cutting data-to-insight cycle 40%
- RecurringSnowflake Summit · Microsoft Ignite · AWS re:InventGovernment of Canada and Quebec government data conferences, the latter in French
“This is the book I wish I had when I started in presales. Every chapter is a masterclass in what actually wins deals.”
“Papa Nguer does not just describe the problem. He hands you the playbook to fix it. Essential reading for any technical seller.”
Four ways to put 25 years to work.
Engagements run from a single half-day to a multi-quarter program. If you are not sure which one fits, describe the problem and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.
Presales & SE team enablement
Turn a team that demos well into a team that closes. Built on the eleven deal stories and a facilitator programme I already run.
- Demo teardowns and SO WHAT? drills
- POC strategy and a scoring rubric that holds up
- Deal review facilitation
- CFO and executive conversation coaching
- Coached inside the framework you already run
For: VPs of Presales, SE managers, revenue enablement
Data & AI advisory
Independent, vendor-literate guidance from someone who spent fifteen years inside the platforms and has no quota riding on your answer.
- Architecture and readiness reviews
- Vendor selection and RFP support
- Data governance, MDM, and data quality strategy
- KYC, AML, and regulatory data programmes
For: CDOs, heads of data, risk and compliance leaders in financial services
Keynotes & conference speaking
Paid keynotes, panels, and moderating for conferences, vendor road-shows, and internal kickoffs. Delivered in English or French.
- Conference keynote or closing session
- Panel seat or moderator
- Sales kickoff and enablement day
- Customer-facing webinar or executive briefing
For: conference programmers, field marketing, partner marketing
Fractional presales leadership
Part-time senior leadership for a company scaling its technical sales function before it can justify a full-time VP.
- Stand up or restructure the SE function
- Hiring scorecards, ramp plans, and coaching cadence
- Demo and POC operating standards
- Partner and alliance technical motion
For: Series A to C founders, CROs, VPs of Sales without an SE bench
Fluent in the framework your team already runs on.
Enablement lands when it plugs into the methodology you have, not when it replaces it. These are the systems I have carried real enterprise and SaaS deals through, and the ones I coach teams in.
Qualification and forecast integrity. The discipline that tells you which deals are real before the quarter tells you.
Teaching customers a new way to think about their problem, then leading the conversation rather than following the RFP.
Asking the right questions in the right order, so the customer articulates the need instead of hearing it pitched.
Qualification through mutual commitment. Up-front contracts that stop the free-consulting spiral.
Customer-centric discovery built for recurring revenue, where the deal does not end at signature.
Quantifying the distance between the customer's current state and their future state, in their numbers.
Diagnosing pain and building the buying vision before any product enters the conversation.
Fast qualification at the top of the funnel, where the cost of a long discovery outweighs its value.
A caveat I say out loud in every workshop: a framework is a checklist for thinking, not a substitute for it. Teams that lose winnable deals are rarely missing a methodology. They are filling one in after the call instead of using it to decide what the next call should be.
Written from the field.
Winning the Moments That Matter
A Sales Engineer's Playbook for Mastering Every Stage of the Deal
Eleven enterprise deal stories drawn from 25 years of real technical selling. Every character is fictional. Every lesson is real. Each story captures a moment where the deal turned, for better or worse, and teaches what separates sellers who close from sellers who demo.
Coming next
Two releases landing in September 2026.
The Accountability Gap
Closing the distance between agreement and ownership
Every stalled transformation has the same fingerprint: a room full of people who agree it matters and no one who owns making it happen. This book names that gap and gives leaders the mechanics to close it.
Winning the Moments That Matter
Hardcover edition
The playbook in a hardcover edition built for the shelf it will actually live on: the desk of a presales leader who reaches for it before a deal review. Same eleven stories, same seven cheat sheets.
Notes from the field.
One piece a week on technical selling, enterprise data, and what actually moves a deal. Written from deals I worked, not frameworks I read about.
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The Governance Crisis: The Turning Point
The absence of those four pages had cost the company its reputation and would ultimately cost it $247 million in fines, settlements, and remediation.
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The Governance Crisis: The Reckoning Deepens
By 5:45, every director was present, either in person or via the secure video link that the company maintained for situations exactly like this, though no one had ever imagined a situation exactly like this.
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The Governance Crisis: The Reckoning
Under Quebec’s Law 25, we face administrative monetary penalties of up to $25 million or four percent of worldwide turnover, whichever is greater.
The short version, and the long one.
Papa S. Nguer is VP of Technical Sales & Engineering at PaWa Data Solutions, a data consultancy he joined as Managing Principal in 2025. Before that he spent fifteen years at Informatica, most recently as Country Manager for Technical Sales in Canada, where he was involved in effectively every Informatica deal in the country and influenced $93M+ in revenue across his final four years.
He has run 300+ customer-facing proving engagements, roughly 55 a year at a 60%+ success rate, for Tier 1 institutions including JPMorgan Chase, PNC, CIBC, Scotiabank, Manulife, Sun Life, CN Rail, Air Canada, and Bell Canada. His depth sits where financial services meets data: KYC and AML, entity resolution, MDM, governance, lineage, and the regulatory reporting that has to survive an audit.
He speaks at ten or more events a year, including DAFS, CDAO Canada, and national road-shows with Deloitte, Accenture, and Microsoft. He is the author of Winning the Moments That Matter and co-founder and managing board member of the SEN Yakaar Foundation, a Canadian non-profit working on health, education, and community development in Senegal and across Africa.
Born in West Africa, based in Toronto, he has lived on three continents, travelled to 29+ countries, and works in English and French.
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Jul 2026 – presentVP, Technical Sales & EngineeringPaWa Data Solutions
Leads technical sales and engineering for a data consultancy spanning cloud platforms, data engineering, analytics, and data science.
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Dec 2025 – Jul 2026Managing PrincipalPaWa Data Solutions
Built out the consultancy's delivery and advisory practice before moving into the technical sales and engineering leadership role.
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Apr 2025 – presentCo-founder & Managing Board MemberSEN Yakaar Foundation
Canadian non-profit promoting equitable access to health, education, and community development in Senegal and across Africa.
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2021 – 2025Country Manager, Technical Sales (Canada)Informatica
Player-coach on the most complex opportunities across financial services, government, telecom, transportation, and retail. Led a team of 7 solution engineers, 14 in matrix. $93M+ influenced revenue, 30+ account expansions, 50+ deals per year.
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2012 – 2021Senior Solution Engineer / Principal Field EngineerInformatica
Nine years hands-on: technical evaluations, reference architectures, and 300+ proving engagements across data quality, MDM, governance, and cloud data integration.
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2007 – 2012Technical Delivery Manager & Solution ArchitectInformatica Professional Services
Multi-stream enterprise data management implementations from scoping to production. Teams of 8+ consultants. Recognized top consultant three times.
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2004 – 2007Senior Data EngineerMorgan Stanley, New York
Mission-critical data systems in Tier 1 investment banking. Data warehouse for tax withholding across derivatives instruments, SOX-compliant ID management, end-to-end audit and control.
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2001 – 2004Production Support ManagerEDS / HP Consulting, client: Scotiabank
Enterprise data warehouse operations. Cut the Informatica batch from 13 hours to 3, lifted availability from 87% to 99%, managed a team of 9.
The Reader Resources Kit
Three tools from the book, built for your next deal. Free, no pitch attached.
7 Tactical Cheat Sheets
Quick reference cards for demos, feature gaps, whiteboard selling, CFO conversations, hidden champions, re-engagement, and trust-building.
The SO WHAT? Translation Worksheet
Map your top five features to the outcomes that actually matter to each audience in the room.
CFO One-Pager Template
The four-row financial justification model that saved a nine-month deal overnight.
No spam. Just the templates from the book, and the occasional note when something new ships.
Check your inbox. Your toolkit is on the way.
If you do not see it within a few minutes, check your spam or promotions folder.
Tell me what you are trying to make happen.
Whether it is a stage, an SE team that keeps losing winnable deals, or a data programme that needs an honest second opinion, start here.
I read every message myself and reply within two business days. If I am not the right fit, I will say so and point you at someone who is.
- Speaking: send the date, audience, and format
- Advisory: send the problem, not the job description
- Media and podcasts: always open, just ask
Prefer LinkedIn? Message me there.
Message received.
Thank you. I will get back to you within two business days.